G 9-Adult • Copyright 1996
Robert Caughlan, Dennis Church
"The most dynamic population video I have
seen."
- Sidonie Giapeta, Director of the National
Wildlife Federation's Population Program
"A bugle
call for Americans to demand leadership and action on this grand-daddy
of all environmental issues."
- Pete McCloskey,
Former Congressman and author of the Clean Water Act
"A no nonsense look at the environmental consequences of our ostrich-like inaction. The limits to the Earth are apparently going to be our last discovery.”
–David Brower
• Winner, Wave Award for Video Excellence
FUTURE IN THE CRADLE documents the historic 1994 United Nations Cairo Population Conference, when world population was 5.7 billion. The film takes its title from Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's conference welcome "to the cradle of civilization to discuss the future of civilization".
At the Cairo conference, 180 nations signed a 20-year plan to stabilize world population. It called upon all countries to improve educational and employment opportunities for women, to promote family planning, and to provide reproductive health care for all women. It also called on developed nations, like the U.S., to reduce their consumption of resources.
The film follows both the official conference and the many other groups that attended. FUTURE IN THE CRADLE is an important documentation of a historic gathering, and a starting point to examine why the countries in attendance have failed to live up to the promises made there, as world population soared to 7 billion.